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EPA hosts mercury reduction and recycling workshop

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday continued its campaign to reduce mercury contamination in the environment, hosting a workshop on the reduction and recycling of mercury-containing products.

The workshop was held at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Conference Center, with domestic and foreign experts in attendance.

Chen Wen, national program director of the US EPA's Partnership for Sustainable Healthcare, talked about the US' efforts to reduce and eliminate mercury use in medical systems.

Wen said the program started eight years ago and has so far saved 80 million grams of mercury waste.

Wen said medical systems significantly contribute to the amount of mercury waste, as thermometers, blood pressure meters and esophageal dilators all use large quantities of the compound.

"A single thermometer contains about a gram of mercury, which is enough to contaminate a 20-acre [8 hectare] lake beyond the recommended safety guidelines," he said.

Wen, citing the Minamata Bay disaster in Japan, said mercury is toxic to humans in various forms. Exposure to elemental mercury may lead to fevers, chills or renal complications; when converted by microorganisms into methylmercury, mercury's most common organic form, it bioaccumulates in the aquatic food chain.

He said shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish were the top four mercury-containing fish.

"The higher it is on the food chain, the more mercury it contains," he said.

Mark Smith, deputy director of the US EPA's Office of Research and Standards, said mercury contamination is extensive, adding that from 1999 to 2001 an estimated 330,000 to 650,000 newborns in the US had blood mercury levels higher than recommended.

He said that one common reason for hospitals to hesitate over the switch from mercury to electronic thermometers is cost.

However, Smith said that after taking into consideration, the costs for cleaning up mercury spillage and treating recycled mercury waste, electronic thermometers work out to be cheaper.

Spillage in hospitals costs up to US$10,000 for a thorough cleanup, he said.

Professor Chang Tien-Chin (張添晉) from the Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management at the National Taipei University of Technology agreed.

"Mercury costs NT$700 per kilogram, but it is much more expensive to clean up after use," he said.

"It is therefore best to replace it as soon as possible," he said.
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